Study of inclusion removal mechanism around open eye in ladle treatment

In the present study, the inclusion removal mechanism by rising bubbles around the open eye in a gas stirred ladle was investigated using a cold model. Water and silicone oils were employed to simulate liquid metal and slag respectively. Both fine silicone oil droplets and charcoal particles were used to simulate inclusions. Around the open eye, the oil layer exhibited a sphere bed structure when a critical gas flowrate was reached. The sphere bed was composed of many oil droplets, each of which was coated with a thin water film. The injected inclusions mostly followed the stream of water flow and were brought up to the open eye by the gas–water plume. A fraction of the inclusions were captured by the sphere bed when passing through the openings between the oil droplets, while the rest of the inclusions came back to the water bath and joined the stream of the flow again. The sphere bed was found to function as a filter to the tiny particles or oil droplets. On the basis of this mechanism, a preliminary comparison of the contribution of inclusion removal by metal–gas plume in the open eye region with the contribution of buoyancy was made.